American Idiot - Green Day (2004):  written in response to US President George Bush and the war in Iraq.

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Killing in the Name - Rage Against the Machine (1992): A protest song that was inspired by the savage beating of Rodney King by LA Police in 1991. The lyrics spoke out against institutional racism and police brutality. It alleged that some of those "forces" are "the same that burn crosses -- meaning that some of the police were KKK members, or at least shared the same racist ideology. 

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The Way It Is - Bruce Hornsby (1986): This song examines the US Civil Rights movement, and says that while progress was made, it is not enough.  Hornsby references a law passed in 64 (The Civil Rights Act) to help the poor, but tells the listener that more needs to be done. 

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Meat is Murder - The Smiths (1985): Morrissey pleads with the listener to consider a more compassionate way of living. The song is is about ending animal suffering, and putting an end of the slaughter of animals for selfish consumption. "Death for no reason is murder." 

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Born in the USA - Bruce Springsteen (1984): A song about how the USA has neglected Vietnam War veterans. 

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Free Nelson Mandela - The Specials (1984): Jerry Dammers wrote this song as a protest of the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela by the apartheid South African government. 

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Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2 (1983):  This song was a response to the events on Sunday January 30, 1972 in which the British Army opened fire on civil rights protestors who were objecting to the division of Ireland. 13 deaths resulted.  Bono stated that this song was intended to be a humanitarian plea against continued killing. 

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Rock the Casbah - The Clash (1982):  This song was a complaint about Arabic censorship of Western music.

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Glad to be Gay - Tom Robinson (1978): This song was one of gay liberation. 

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God Save the Queen - Sex Pistols (1977): In 1977 when the song was released, Queen Elizabeth had been the UK's ruling monarch for 25 years, Although Johnny Rotten denied that the song was intended to be critical of the queen, most consider the song to be intended as a mockery of her and the idea of royalty in general. Rotten contends that "no future" was more of a commentary on the problems of the disenfranchised, alienated youth, and the unemployed. 

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What's Going On - Marvin Gaye (1971): Obie Benson witnessed the police at Berkeley, in  California, attacking anti-Vietnam War protestors, and that was the inspiration for this iconic song. 

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Imagine - John Lennon (1971): a song about positivity and hope, one that is anti-establishment and some have suggested promotes ideas of anarchy or communism. Nevertheless, it has been accepted all over the world as a song that promotes peace and unity, and choosing love and inclusiveness over possessions and rejecting the institutions that divide us.

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The Unknown Soldier - The Doors (1968): Jim Morrison sings about the horrors of the Vietnam War, including a faceless soldier who dies in combat, while life goes on as usual at home in the US. 

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A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall - Bob Dylan (1963): this song was written soon before The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1963. The song was inspired by the very real threat of nuclear war that loomed. 

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